Wall tile construction



Oct. 11, 1938. R. J. BERGEZ I WALL TILE CONS TRUCTION Filed May 4, 1937 v 5 i v. L .5 T

INVENTOR. Z1? 6E2 B ATTORNEYS. v

Patented Oct. 11, .1938

PATENT: OFFICE.

WALL: TILE CONSTRUCTION miter; J.: Bergez, San Fmic a'o, Calif. Application May 4, 1937, Serial N 0.' 140,669 1" Claim. (01. 72-1 My invention relates to improvements in a wall tile construction, and it consists of"the combinations, constructions and arrangements hereinafter described and claimed.

The usual wall tile is provided with a glazed top surface made from glass that is either sprayed or brushed onto the top of the tile and then the.

tile is again baked. Since this'glazed surface is a different materialfromi the bodyof'thetile, it

will easily chip and this will mar the appearance of the tile. In layingthe wall tile, they are placed against a cement base and the straight edges of the tile are either abutted against each other orv between a glazed surface and chipped portions'not glazed. 7

Where the tiles are spaced a slight distance apart to form what is known as a string joint,

the space between the adjacent tiles is normally filled with a white cement and'this cement will become discolored by drawing the coloring matter from the gray cement that supports the bases of It is usually the practice 'to fill the the tiles. sp'aces of the string joints with a whitecement while the gray cement is still wet andit is'for this reason that the white cement becomes =discolored. l V a The principal object of my invention is to pro vide a tile construction that will overcome the disadvantage of the glazed surface flaking, due to the edges of these blazed surfaces abutting one another under pressure, and which will overcome the disadvantage of causing the white cement-.7

placed in the string joints from becoming gray through absorbing a portion of the coloring from the gray cement. Each tile of my invention is provided with edges that have. recessed portions disposed adjacent to the glazed face of the tile.

Each edge will be provided with arecess that has a width substantially one-half the depth of the tile, although I do not wish to be confined to this particular dimension. the edge is shallow so that the placing of two tiles against each otherin abutting relation will cause 'short distance.

The recessedjportion of bling a'string joint. In assembling my improved tiles, the lower porthese recessed portions to form a groove resemtionsf ofs'the'edges disposed adjacent. to the base of the tiles, are brought into abutting relation to form a tight joint and'the' undersurface of the tile will be supported by the gray cement in the usual manner. This will providea slight space "or groove between the adjacent tiles at the glazed surfaces. The edges of the glazed surfaces will therefore not abut each other, and'any' settling of the wall tile construction will not cause these edges to be forced against each other with the resultthat there will be no flaking or'chipping of the'glazed surfaces. 'Moreover the grooves formed between the glazed surfaces may be filled with the White cement and this cement can not become discolored from the gray cement because the lower portions of the edges abut each other and prevent the white cement from contacting with the gray cement.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification, and the novel features of the device will be particularly pointed out i I the appended claim.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing forming a part of this application, in

which 1 Figure 1 is a plan view of the improved'tiles,

' shown assembled;

Figure 2 is an enlarged section along the line 2-2 of Figure 1; and

Figure3 is an isometric view of a tile.

In carrying out my invention I providea tile indicated generally at A and this tile may be of any shape desired. In Figure 3 I'show the tile as being square and as being provided with a glazed surface I and with a bottom surface 2 that is designed to be placed upon a supporting bed of gray cement. All four edges 3 of the tile are recessed at 4 and it will be noted that the recesses extend downwardly from the glazed surface a Each recess 4 is shallow. The glazed surface is formed by either spraying or brushing liquid glass onto the top face of the f tile in the usual manner. The tile is then baked again and will be provided with a face differing in composition from the body of the tile. The brittleness, of the glazed face causes it to chip easily. In Figure 2, I show the tile A placed upon ,a supporting layer of gray. cement indicated at B.

This cement in turn is supported by the usual wall lathconstruction C or other suitable construction, Figure 2 shows the edges 3 of adjacent tile abut- V tingeachother and further illustrates how the recesses 4 provide a space between adjacent glazed surfaces I so that the tiles will appear to be constructed-with a string joint between each tile rather than a tight joint. A white cement indicated at D is placed in, the grooves formed by the recesses so that these grooves will be entirely filled. It will be seen from Figure 2' that the.

white cement is spaced from the gray cement because the edges 3 of the adjacent tile abut each ether.

In Figure 1 I show a number of the tiles assembled on a wall and this figure clearly shows the glazed faces I of the tiles spaced from adjacent glazed faces by grooves formed from the two cooperating recesses 4. If desired the rear face 2 of the tile may he ribbed at 5 and these ribs will be embedded in the gray cement and thus more efiectively support the tiles.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof may be readily understood. 7

3; grooves disposed between adjacent tiles and these grooves will extend substantially half-way down the edges of the tiles from the glazed surfaces to the bases. The grooves are filled with the white cement D, and this will give an appearance to the tile construction as though it were provided with string joints rather than tight joints. The white cement D is separated from the gray cement B by the tight joints disposed at the rear or the bases of the tiles and therefore the gray cement will not stain the white cement.

It will be seen that with this type of tile construction that the glazed surfaces I can not crack or flake because these surfaces onadjacent tiles do not touch each other. The cement D in the grooves separates the glazed surfaces and this cement is known as grout. Since the grooves do not extend to the bottoms of the tiles a saving of the white cement will result. Furthermore it is possible to add the white cement to the grooves on the same day that the tile is placed on the gray cement without any fear of thewhite cement becoming stained.

While I have shown only the preferred form of my invention, it should be understood that various changes or modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claim without departing from the spirit of the invention.

- I claim: a

A wall tile construction comprising a supporting layer of cement, tiles placed against the cement with their edges abutting each other, the faces of the tiles being glazed and of less area than the bases of the tiles, whereby the edges of the faces of adjacent tiles are spaced from each other to provide grooves that bound all sides of each tile, and a cement filling the grooves and being spaced from thelayer of cement that supports the tiles by the lower edges of the tile abutting the lower edges of adjacent tiles.

ROBERT J. BERGEZ. 

